mr. courtney. you can make sure the rest of the commissioners have it. this is something that goes back to 1976. also in that packet -- i cannot talk about it now, but i have my budget in there. you can take it off line and give me my budget. i want to thank you. i have been talking with the staff. i would like you to know that everything is going to be working out with the southeast sewage plant. as you know, i have been one of your persons that has been heavily involved making sure that the sewage plants do not leave san francisco, because i am getting calls from people saying, "we don't want it." we have to have it. it was put there in 1952. i moved into the area in 1948. there will be a lot of discussions. i am glad i will be working with staff. we are coming to a solution. the fact that we are bonded, bayview hunters point and this commission, at the hip -- you cannot slack me off. you're going to have to work with me, and i am going to work with you, to make sure all of us are happy -- not only the commissioners, but the bayview hunters point commu

mr. courtney? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you to the witnesses. secretary panetta, again i want to thank you for visiting the groton shipyard back in november. you had a chance to climb on board the mississippi and the north dakota which is under construction, as well as really a pretty extraordinary town hall with the workers on the pier there. we very eloquently described the value of the industrial base to our national security. in light of that, just to follow up on mr. langevin's questions, the mississippi, which was christened just a few weeks later had come in $64 million under budget, 12 months ahead of schedule. and there is no question that the momentum of two subs a year, which took 20 years to get us up to that pace is achieving savings. that contract shift, which by the way that's the third time it's been changed, not the second time, mr. hale, there is no question that in terms of materials, management, in terms of workforce management, in terms of layoffs, which is inevitably going to flow from that shift is going to result in costs

mr. courtney, for five minutes. mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, 2011 marked an unfortunate milestone in our country's financial picture when for the first time in american history student loan debt actually exceeded credit card debt, which by itself is a huge statement in terms of the challenges that families, middle class families and working families are facing today in terms of trying to deal with the cost of higher education. the value of a higher education degree or post high school degree which is sometimes debated in the media still i believe is indisputable and the statistics certainly demonstrate that. at a time when our national unemployment rate is 8.3%, if you drill down deeper you'll learn that those with only a high school degree, the unemployment rate is 16.5%. that's less than a high school degree. those with a high school degree it's 10.7%. those with some college it's 8.5%. and those with a bachelor's degree or higher is 4.5%. so the stakes could not be higher for young people all across our country that we must deal wit

mr. courtney: myself, congressman peters, senator jack reed in the senate have filed legislation to lock in those rates at 3.4%. this chamber must act. today student loan debt now exceeds credit card debt in the united states of america, a milestone which is a disaster and a formula for failure in this country. we have fallen from number one in the world in terms of graduation rates to number 12. this is a threat in terms of our future economic vitality. and as young people across this capitol over the next two months or so, i hope members of congress look those kids in the eye and do the right thing to protect college affordability. pass h.r. 3826. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. johnson: ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. johnson: thank you, madam speaker. you know, for 21 days in a row gas prices have risen to average now $3.70 per gallon. a 30-cent increase in only one month. at this rate americans could b

mr. courtney: the u.s. economy added 243,000 new jobs and there was a revision upward for december and november. across the board. manufacturing, service, leisure, service industries, health care, the u.s. economy which has suffered its biggest blow since the depression because of the financial meltdown in 2008 is picking up strength. as the president said congress must not muck it up. we need to pass the payroll tax cut extension which expires at the end of february. fix the doctor's fees and do unemployment compensation f we don't do that the markets will head south on us again just like they did last december. this congress wasted an entire month of january with no conference committee to resolve this issue. it is time that we fix this and get it done right away. we shouldn't go home this weekend until we pass a payroll tax cut extension. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california ris

mr. courtney? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you to the witnesses.retary panetta, again i want to thank you for visiting the groton shipyard back in november. you had a chance to climb on board the mississippi and the north dakota which is under construction, as well as really a pretty extraordinary town hall with the workers on the pier there. we very eloquently described the value of the industrial base to our national security. in light of that, just to follow up on mr. langevin's questions the mississippi, which was christened just a few weeks later had come in $64 million under budget, 12 months ahead of schedule. and there is no question that the momentum of two subs a year, which took 20 years to get us up to that pace is achieving savings. that contract shift, which by the way that's the third time it's been changed, not the second time, mr. hale there is no question that in terms of materials, management, in terms of workforce management in terms of layoffs, which is inevitably going to flow from that shift is going to result in costs. i gue

mr. bernanke again today, courtney. >> we do. fed chairman ben bernanke back on capitol hill today. we'll see if he changes his tune from what he had said previou y previously. he'll be before the senate budget committee. now bernanke expect ed to repea much of that testimony from last week's house budget committee hearing but investors are listening for any changes in his comments to account for an improving u.s. economy in the wake of friday's better than expected jobs report, that is the one big change that happened between then and now. so joining us is edward, and, edward, forgive me, i don't know the pro-nuns of your last name. i didn't want to mess that up. if you can start there with bernanke, recently he said he's going to keep interest rates low until at least 2014, what does that mean for the retail investors? >> it means you'd better do something. another two and a half years of no interest income in the banks. so if you're going to get that you have to make a decision what am i going to do to offset the fact my money will be worth less if it's at 2 1/2%, you're going to

. >> courtney, well, apple's up, but the stock market's been slipping a little bit after the fed chief, mr. bernanke, hinted there would be no more monetary easing perhaps. nonetheless the nasdaq did stop the 3,000 mark earlier. first time that's happened in a decade and comes day after dow climbing above 13,000. and joining us, guys, nice to have you here. dan, i'm going to start with you if i could. as simon hobbs, i don't know if you were able to hear his report earlier, pointed out that there was a lot of selling just around the 10:00, 11:00 hour and the question is whether or not people are really moving away from the risk trade. whether they've seen too much of a move in stocks. or do we go higher from here? what do you think? >> well, i think, sue, what we have is that we just have a situation where the extremely strong earnings motor that's been driving this market is probably back in neutral temporarily. i mean, we had earnings growth that was 15% in the fourth quarter. significant move in the market in the fourth quarter. and now we're up 9% this year so far. and we've had a full